Cats Don’t Dance (1997)
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Cats Don’t Dance Movie Review
Cats Don’t Dance is a 1997 animated musical film directed by Mark Dindal and starring Scott Bakula. It is a pretty solid Warner Bros. flick.
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“They can break your cookie,
but you’ll always have your fortune“
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Cats Don’t Dance follows a cat who tries to make it in 1930s Hollywood, but finds out that humans get much better roles than cats. This is clearly an animation for adults which was interesting to witness, but obviously the children would be clueless watching this movie about the thirties, Hollywood, stars and music. That’s why I personally found it rather refreshing for the nineties which were dominated by Disney, but Warner Bros. here made a very different film on their own and it mostly worked.
Except for the characters. Yes, the character development is unfortunately very weak in this musical. Admittedly the voice acting is very strong with Ashley Peldon and Scott Bakula doing the best job, but the characters themselves are rather forgettable with a few exceptions. I liked Danny quite a bit and he is a likable protagonist for sure. I also liked Sawyer. The standout is naturally evil Shirley Temple-like actress Darla Simple who steals the show and is a lot of goofy, but successful entertainment. But all of the others are entirely forgettable and uninspired.
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Cats Don’t Dance also doesn’t have the best animation out there when it comes to the standards of 1997. Both ‘Hercules’ and ‘Anastasia’ from the same year look infinitely better. Warner Bros. should have invested more money for sure. That’s not to say that the animation here is necessarily bad as it has that signature Warners’ style to it which includes goofy character designs, a polished cartoony look to it and particularly effective animal character animation, but the overall production lacks an artistic flourish and memorable scenery.
The movie is a comedy to some degree, but most of the humor isn’t that strong or that present so it is better off as a musical. And in my opinion, it thoroughly succeeds as a musical because its soundtrack is actually stupendous. There isn’t a single song here that can rival Disney’s best from the nineties, but still most of the songs are either solid or pretty good so I was satisfied.
Danny’s Arrival Song is probably my favorite as it opened the flick so well and is very moody and catchy. Our Time Has Come is also pretty good and very well sung. Big and Loud is annoying and too short though. Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now is very lively and catchy. Little Boat on the Sea is too short, but actually very well sung and quite memorable. Tell Me Lies is okay, but overly serious. I Do Believe is again very well sung and with a memorable tune. The first song remains the best and most of the others are pretty good, even if they sound too similar to each other and there clearly is lacking a standout show stopper.
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Cats Don’t Dance is not well paced at all as the movie is overly short and frenetic and thus it felt rather rushed and unfulfilled. It’s well directed, very well scripted actually and featuring pretty good dialogue, but most of its plot points did not get to breathe enough and thus the movie did not get a strong momentum when it clearly needed to. But still, the serious subject matter make it a refreshing change in pace from other 90s animation.
Cats Don’t Dance definitely could have benefited from stronger animation and better defined characters, but the story itself is a refreshing change in pace from other 90s animated fare as it’s mature and dealing with 1930s Hollywood in a fun, amusing manner. The soundtrack is particularly strong with well sung, catchy and entertaining numbers. It is flawed and rushed, but definitely a solid, interesting experiment from Warner Bros.
